All July TAAS Events Cancelled

Once again due to the Covid-19 pandemic all regular TAAS events are cancelled for the month of July

The TAAS Board of Directors made this decision on June 24 in accordance with a New Mexico Public Health order to maintain its rules and re-strictions for mass gatherings

Observing events may continue at GNTO with a five-person limit for each event

A Salute to Independence Day Penumbral Eclipse A penumbrAl lunAr eclipsewillbevisiblefromAlbuquer-queonthe4thofJulyItwilllast2hoursand45minutesbeginningat907PMMountainTimepeakingat1029andendingat1152 The timing forNewMexico isperfectbecause itrsquoshap-peningduringthesametimeperiodmostpeoplewillbeoutsidelaunchingandviewingfireworksUnfortunately thiswonrsquot beaverydeepeclipsesoonlyonesideofthemoonwilldimslightlyButhowoftendoyougetaneclipsewhilefireworksarealso intheskyThiswebpageprovidesmoreinformationhttpswwwtimeanddatecomeclipseinusaalbuquerque

mdashJim Greenhouse TAAS member and director of Space Sciences at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science

from forest fires west and south of us and incoming cir-rus clouds The telescope and its computer-controlled mo-tion had received only preliminary adjustment and technical details are all but inevitable in a large new instrument So our initial goal was to simply see a star confirming that the scopersquos focus was within the range of adjustment

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical SocietyPO Box 50581 Albuquerque New Mexico 87181-0581 wwwTAASorg

S i n c e 1959

I N S I D E2 Presidentrsquos Message General Meetings in the Time of Covid-19 Jim Roucis Joins TAAS Board3 Astrophoto Crescent Nebula and Sadr Region

4Under the Dome Telescope Loan Update6 Astrophoto A Polar Star Trail8 Astrophoto In the Heart of the Rose9 Astrophoto The Black Eye Galaxy M64

10 Get a TAAS Cap11TAAS Reports amp Notices12 TAAS Directors amp Staff

continued on page 2

July 2020 ObservemdashEducatemdashHaveFun

The Sidereal Times

First Light Totoritis Observatory Pie Town New Mexico

by John W Briggs Years of effort by James Totoritis and the forces he harnessed to make his astronomical dream a reality came to fruition one the evening of Sunday June 21 when his new 40-inch telescope was turned sky-ward for the first time This First Light event was an unforgettable ex-perience for all who were present at the new Totoritis Observatory in Pie Town 60 miles west of Magdalena It was amazing yet only a hint of what is yet to comeIn the future everyone reading this will have a chance to experience the instrument and the wonders it re-veals The eventual First Light success had seemed very unlikely that afternoon what with blowing smoke

Page 2

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

P r e s i d e n t rsquo s M e s s a g e Jim Fordice

Join Us for the Virtual Observing Ses-sionsThe latest Virtual Observing Session is the ldquoLetrsquos Find the Constellationsrdquo session Thanks to Dee Friesen Becky Ramotowski and Lynne Olson for pre-paring the presentation The details are on the TAAS website Dee is asking for inputs on what the next session should observe

The General Meeting Goes VirtualBecause it may be a long time before we can hold in-person General Meet-ings due to the pandemic we have been working to move the General Meeting on-line Steve Snider has made all of the arrangements The first virtual meeting will be on August 8 Be looking for details from Steve in the near future

Can GNTO Be UsedWhile we are not opening GNTO for regular observing events it is still open to all TAAS Members The pro-cedure for using the site on your own is available at httpwwwTAASorgGNTODocumentshtml Look for the GNTO Observing Field Access Proce-dure and Checklist

Whether you use GNTO is a personal decision Please keep in mind that the Governorrsquos Stay-at-Home order places a limit of no more than five people participating in a group activity If you plan to use GNTO you need to comply with that limit The best way to ac-complish that is to determine who will attend in advance via TAAS_Talk

Stay safe out there and keep Observ-ing Educating (yourself) and Having Fun

Jim Roucis Joins TAAS Board of Directors

The TAAS Board of Directors has a new member Jim Roucis Jim is one of the most active members of our club and was elected at the BoD meeting on June 24 For more information see his entry on P 12 of this issue

TAAS General Meetings in the Time of Covid-19

By Lynne OlsonWe are all working our way through this challenging time and Steve Snider has come up with plans for three online general membership meetings complete with excellent speakers to keep us connected and learning until we can meet in person again

Starting in August we will hold General Meetings via Zoom with all our usual traditions welcome by the President introduction of the Board and observing reports followed by our fine speakersrsquo re-marks and a QampA sessionHere are the speakers each of whom deserves our thanksbull August 8 - Dave Finley - ldquoHis-tory of the VLArdquo bull September 5 - Amy Miodusze-wski - ldquoDeath and Afterlife of Starsrdquo bull October 3 - Tom Field - ldquoYou Can Almost Touch The Starsrdquo (Spectroscopy)

Additional details of each of these speakers and their topics will be forthcoming and Steve will issue invites and passwords for each Zoom session

In the time of Covid-29 we must be adaptable and TAAS members cer-tainly are

Page 3

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

Crescent Nebula and Sadr Region I took this image of the Crescent Nebula and surroundings through wildfire haze on June 20th Itrsquos a 2x2 panel mosaic totaling 65 hours of exposure comprised of 3-minute H-alpha subframes taken with my ASI1600MM-C camera paired with my AT80-EDT and 08x focal reducerfield flattener (F48 effective f=384 mm effective) The secondary image shows the setupThe Crescent Nebula (NGC6888) is shown in the top right and Sadr (Gamma Cygni) is lower left of center The full field of view is roughly 49deg x 37deg with a pixel scale of 2rdquo

Processingediting isnrsquot my favorite so I put my ef-fort into getting enough quality data that process-ing is straightforward This image required darkflatbias calibration background normalization sigma clipped stacking merging the mosaic pan-els stretchingcurves

Herersquos a link to the full resolution image (if you zoom in give it a few seconds to load)httpsphotosappgooglbB4nafNsuSHtbFSy7

mdashThomas(Will)Dickinson

setup

Page 4

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

Telescope Loan Program UpdateBy Rick Vergas Telescope Loan Program Coordinator

The Loan Program is up and running but remember masks and social distancing There have been quite a few requests for scopes and cur-rently there is only one in storage the Explore Scientific Dobsonian Due to the pandemic many scopes have been on loan for over a month so feel free to request any telescope or eyepiece that interests you I will do my best to keep up with demand

Loan Program Statistics

of

Scopes on Loan Available on Loan

35 34 1 97

Type Reflectors Refractors Catadioptrics 23 7 12

SizeLarge (gt8rdquo)

Medium (5rdquo-8rdquo)

Small (lt5rdquo)

12 17 13

Tracking Manual Push-To Go-To Tracking 26 5 7 11

As of 6242020

Under the DomeNotes from and about GNTO Jim Fordice

Join Us for the Virtual Observing SessionsThe latest Virtual Observing Ses-sion is the ldquoLetrsquos Find the Constel-lationsrdquo session Thanks to Dee Fri-esen Becky Ramotowski and Lynne Olson for preparing the presenta-tion The details are on the TAAS website Dee is asking for inputs on what the next session should ob-serve

The General Meeting Goes VirtualBecause it may be a long time be-fore we can hold in-person General Meetings due to the pandemic we have been working to move the General Meeting on-line Steve Snider has made all of the arrange-ments The first virtual meeting will be on August 8 Be looking for de-tails from Steve in the near future

Can GNTO Be UsedWhile we are not opening GNTO for regular observing events it is still open to all TAAS Members The procedure for using the site on your own is available at httpwwwTAASorgGNTODocumentshtml Look for the GNTO Observing Field Access Procedure and Checklist

continued on page 5

photo by jim fordice

Jim Fordice David Friar photo by susan evans

Page 5

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

Whether you use GNTO is a per-sonal decision Please keep in mind that the Governorrsquos Stay-at-Home order places a limit of no more than five people participating in a group activity If you plan to use GNTO you need to comply with that limit The best way to accom-plish that is to determine who will attend in advance via TAAS_Talk

Stay safe out there and keep Ob-serving Educating (yourself) and Having Fun

U n d e r t h e D o m e c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 3

But as we waited through twilight admiring the instrument and the big-sky view allowed by the huge roll-off-roof observatory stars appeared and the air sud-denly cleared We all stepped up the ob-serving ladder to see stars for the first time ndash and not only did the telescope focus it focused sharply We viewed the Ring Nebula Messier 57 the great globular star cluster in Hercules M13 along

with other Messier objects and the Scutum star cloud All were impressive but Messier 51 the Whirlpool Galaxy looked shockingly beautiful Light that has been traveling for 23 mil-lion years presented details of its delicate structure in the spiral

arms I could not help thinking of Lord Rosse and his visual discovery of the Whirlpool 1845 Our view was very reminiscent of his famous first sketch All this on a night we had feared would be a flop I looked over at James Torto-ritis and said ldquoKeep in mind Jamie the night actually sucksrdquo And that drew a laugh all around I described some of the pre-liminary effort installing the tele-scope in a message posted to the new Magdalena Astronomical Soci-ety distribution list on June 19 but I should correct a mistake in that report -- the Totoritis 40-inch Dob-sonian has a focal ratio of f35 not f33 Thus the main mirrorrsquos focal length is close to 40 inches x 35 or 140 inches (3560 mm)

F i r s t L i g h t c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1

continued on page 7

Ladron (Thief) Peak photo by jim roucis

Vance Ley photo by susan evans

Scope and Mike Zammit Sketch

Mike Zammit and Mirror

Rolloff

Page 6

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

A polar star trail at the White Ridge Mountain Bike Park near San Ysidro New Mexico Alan Scott Jim Stanley and I enjoyed some wonderful clear skies the evening of May 20 2020 The photo has dusk to the left and the lights of Los Alamos to the right The Big Dipper is the collection of bright white stars in the top center

Technical details A Canon 6Dmk2 with a Sigma 14mm lens at 2 hours of 5 minute subs and ISO 100 integrated in PixInsight

The foreground was masked and stretched in Photoshop Elements to match color balance with my experience of the scene mdashEricEdwards

Page 7

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

If yoursquore familiar with cam-era lenses you know that tradi-tional lenses have a focal length of about 50 mm ldquoTelephotordquo lenses are longer often about 200 mm ndash which helps put the 3560-millime-ter focal length of the new telescope in perspective Also impressive is the tele-scopersquos light-gathering power compared to a human eye A fully dark-adapted youthful human eye has a pupil diameter of about 8 mil-limeters The 40-inch scopersquos diam-eter is 1016 millimeters 127 times larger Since the the collecting areas go as the square of these numbers the new telescope collects about 16000 times more light from a ce-lestial object than can be seen by such an ideal human eye Those of us who are older know all too well that our aging eyes are not ideal pupils shrink to perhaps 5 mm by age 60 and no longer adapt so well to faint light But with the right eyepiece this telescope can show celes-tial objects perhaps 41000 times brighter than can be seen by the average 60-year-old eye As a result many of us pres-ent that Sunday evening myself included saw various objects more clearly and beautifully than ever be-fore ndash a wondrous thing

F i r s t L i g h tc o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 5

Making this custom tele-scope a reality was an often tortu-ous process with delays and set-backs The first attempt at a main mirror failed and so a second disk ndash from a fused-quartz blank 2 58 inches thick with a finished weight of 215 pounds ndash had to be made Obviously it was a big success It was also gratifying to note the impressive mechanical rigidity in the telescopersquos structure which was designed and built by Mike Zammit of StarStructure Telescopes in Florida who was with us for First Light James built the facility very large to facilitate a comfortable experience for future visitors al-though he emphasizes that he wonrsquot be able to host public events until the coronavirus situation is re-solved

Editors Note John W Briggs is a member of TAAS and of the Magda-lena Astronomical Society (MAS) and is the curator of the Magdalena Astronomical Lyceum an outstand-ing collection of historical telescopes and other astronomical instruments He invites TAAS members to sub-scribe to the new MAS email group mas-astrogroupsio

Page 8

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

In the Heart of the Rose an up close and personal look into the heart of the Rosette Nebula (aka Caldwell 49) The star of this image is the open cluster NGC 2244 discovered by John Flamsteed in 1690 () and later reported by Wil-liam Hershel Apparently neither saw the nebula The cluster consists of hot young stars formed from this giant nebula (stellar rebirth) about 5000 light-years from Earth Turn left at Orion to find it You will be able to see the bright star cluster in the center with binoculars Even with a moderate-sized telescope the nebula will not appear red in color Long integrations with a camera and small telescope reveal the beauty of the nebularsquos core

These bright young stars (typically 5 times hot-ter than our Sun) flood the nebula with ultraviolet light that excites gases causing emissions cap-tured by the camera The thinned area in the cen-ter of the nebula is thought to be caused by stellar winds from that group of stars The stellar winds exert pressure on the nebular cloud compress it and initiate gravitational collapse and stellar for-mation Astronomers estimate this process has been ongoing for about 4 million years The bright red regions are emissions from ionized hydrogen

the most abundant element in the nebula The blu-ish regions are from oxygen atoms that have lost two electrons ldquodoubly ionizedrdquo by the powerful ultra-violet

I collected just over 3 hours (46 X 4 min) of sub-ex-posures to make this image from FOAH Observa-tory (thank you John Briggs) north of Magdalena on February 17 using a Takahashi Epsilon 180 ED and Nikon D850 camera no filters The sub-expo-sures were calibrated registered photometrically color calibrated and integrated in PixInsight with final adjustments and cropping in Lightroom No noise reduction was performed

The quality of the image speaks mostly to the dark light-pollution-free sky at FOAH If you can view zoomed in on a large monitor If yoursquore won-dering about the color in the diffraction spikes from the Newtonian secondary supports I think itrsquos because the peaks of the side lobes of the dif-fraction pattern occur at different radial distances for different colors the period of red being the longest Makes for an interesting art form mdashBobFugate

Page 9

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

The Black Eye Galaxy M64 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 17 million light-years away in the direction of constellation Coma Berenices at an angle of 112ordm to our line of sight It is approximately 54000 light-years in diameter or about half the span of the Milky Way

M64rsquos interstellar media consist of two counter-rotating disks of gas This is thought to have been caused when two galaxies rotating in opposite directions collided and merged in the distant pastThis image was captured on the nights of April 14-16 at GNTO using a C 11 Edge at f7 an ASI 1600 mm camera and a Losmandy G11 mount A total of 48 x 5rsquo subframes were made using L R G and Blue filters The resulting subframes were pro-cessed and stacked in PixInsight mdashVanceLey

Page 10

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

Proud To Be a Member of TAAS Get a Cap

For many years we have had TAAS hats and other apparel made at Black Duck Embroidery amp Screen Printing (httpblackduckonlinecom) here in Albu-querque Recently they gave us an excellent price on two types of caps due to our frequent orders We can get the TAAS ball cap andor the woven watch cap both in midnight blue with the TAAS logo for only $10 and you can order one (or both) via our dedi-cated publicist Lynne Olson at no additional charge During this stay-at-home social-distancing time if you want to keep TAAS on your mindmdashand on your headmdashnotify Lynne at prtaasorg Shersquoll let you know when the order comes in and payment will be arranged

Page 6

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

A polar star trail at the White Ridge Mountain Bike Park near San Ysidro New Mexico Alan Scott Jim Stanley and I enjoyed some wonderful clear skies the evening of May 20 2020 The photo has dusk to the left and the lights of Los Alamos to the right The Big Dipper is the collection of bright white stars in the top center

Technical details A Canon 6Dmk2 with a Sigma 14mm lens at 2 hours of 5 minute subs and ISO 100 integrated in PixInsight

The foreground was masked and stretched in Photoshop Elements to match color balance with my experience of the scene mdashEricEdwards

Page 7

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

If yoursquore familiar with cam-era lenses you know that tradi-tional lenses have a focal length of about 50 mm ldquoTelephotordquo lenses are longer often about 200 mm ndash which helps put the 3560-millime-ter focal length of the new telescope in perspective Also impressive is the tele-scopersquos light-gathering power compared to a human eye A fully dark-adapted youthful human eye has a pupil diameter of about 8 mil-limeters The 40-inch scopersquos diam-eter is 1016 millimeters 127 times larger Since the the collecting areas go as the square of these numbers the new telescope collects about 16000 times more light from a ce-lestial object than can be seen by such an ideal human eye Those of us who are older know all too well that our aging eyes are not ideal pupils shrink to perhaps 5 mm by age 60 and no longer adapt so well to faint light But with the right eyepiece this telescope can show celes-tial objects perhaps 41000 times brighter than can be seen by the average 60-year-old eye As a result many of us pres-ent that Sunday evening myself included saw various objects more clearly and beautifully than ever be-fore ndash a wondrous thing

F i r s t L i g h tc o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 5

Making this custom tele-scope a reality was an often tortu-ous process with delays and set-backs The first attempt at a main mirror failed and so a second disk ndash from a fused-quartz blank 2 58 inches thick with a finished weight of 215 pounds ndash had to be made Obviously it was a big success It was also gratifying to note the impressive mechanical rigidity in the telescopersquos structure which was designed and built by Mike Zammit of StarStructure Telescopes in Florida who was with us for First Light James built the facility very large to facilitate a comfortable experience for future visitors al-though he emphasizes that he wonrsquot be able to host public events until the coronavirus situation is re-solved

Editors Note John W Briggs is a member of TAAS and of the Magda-lena Astronomical Society (MAS) and is the curator of the Magdalena Astronomical Lyceum an outstand-ing collection of historical telescopes and other astronomical instruments He invites TAAS members to sub-scribe to the new MAS email group mas-astrogroupsio

Page 8

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

In the Heart of the Rose an up close and personal look into the heart of the Rosette Nebula (aka Caldwell 49) The star of this image is the open cluster NGC 2244 discovered by John Flamsteed in 1690 () and later reported by Wil-liam Hershel Apparently neither saw the nebula The cluster consists of hot young stars formed from this giant nebula (stellar rebirth) about 5000 light-years from Earth Turn left at Orion to find it You will be able to see the bright star cluster in the center with binoculars Even with a moderate-sized telescope the nebula will not appear red in color Long integrations with a camera and small telescope reveal the beauty of the nebularsquos core

These bright young stars (typically 5 times hot-ter than our Sun) flood the nebula with ultraviolet light that excites gases causing emissions cap-tured by the camera The thinned area in the cen-ter of the nebula is thought to be caused by stellar winds from that group of stars The stellar winds exert pressure on the nebular cloud compress it and initiate gravitational collapse and stellar for-mation Astronomers estimate this process has been ongoing for about 4 million years The bright red regions are emissions from ionized hydrogen

the most abundant element in the nebula The blu-ish regions are from oxygen atoms that have lost two electrons ldquodoubly ionizedrdquo by the powerful ultra-violet

I collected just over 3 hours (46 X 4 min) of sub-ex-posures to make this image from FOAH Observa-tory (thank you John Briggs) north of Magdalena on February 17 using a Takahashi Epsilon 180 ED and Nikon D850 camera no filters The sub-expo-sures were calibrated registered photometrically color calibrated and integrated in PixInsight with final adjustments and cropping in Lightroom No noise reduction was performed

The quality of the image speaks mostly to the dark light-pollution-free sky at FOAH If you can view zoomed in on a large monitor If yoursquore won-dering about the color in the diffraction spikes from the Newtonian secondary supports I think itrsquos because the peaks of the side lobes of the dif-fraction pattern occur at different radial distances for different colors the period of red being the longest Makes for an interesting art form mdashBobFugate

Page 9

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

The Black Eye Galaxy M64 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 17 million light-years away in the direction of constellation Coma Berenices at an angle of 112ordm to our line of sight It is approximately 54000 light-years in diameter or about half the span of the Milky Way

M64rsquos interstellar media consist of two counter-rotating disks of gas This is thought to have been caused when two galaxies rotating in opposite directions collided and merged in the distant pastThis image was captured on the nights of April 14-16 at GNTO using a C 11 Edge at f7 an ASI 1600 mm camera and a Losmandy G11 mount A total of 48 x 5rsquo subframes were made using L R G and Blue filters The resulting subframes were pro-cessed and stacked in PixInsight mdashVanceLey

Page 10

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

Proud To Be a Member of TAAS Get a Cap

For many years we have had TAAS hats and other apparel made at Black Duck Embroidery amp Screen Printing (httpblackduckonlinecom) here in Albu-querque Recently they gave us an excellent price on two types of caps due to our frequent orders We can get the TAAS ball cap andor the woven watch cap both in midnight blue with the TAAS logo for only $10 and you can order one (or both) via our dedi-cated publicist Lynne Olson at no additional charge During this stay-at-home social-distancing time if you want to keep TAAS on your mindmdashand on your headmdashnotify Lynne at prtaasorg Shersquoll let you know when the order comes in and payment will be arranged

Page 7

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

If yoursquore familiar with cam-era lenses you know that tradi-tional lenses have a focal length of about 50 mm ldquoTelephotordquo lenses are longer often about 200 mm ndash which helps put the 3560-millime-ter focal length of the new telescope in perspective Also impressive is the tele-scopersquos light-gathering power compared to a human eye A fully dark-adapted youthful human eye has a pupil diameter of about 8 mil-limeters The 40-inch scopersquos diam-eter is 1016 millimeters 127 times larger Since the the collecting areas go as the square of these numbers the new telescope collects about 16000 times more light from a ce-lestial object than can be seen by such an ideal human eye Those of us who are older know all too well that our aging eyes are not ideal pupils shrink to perhaps 5 mm by age 60 and no longer adapt so well to faint light But with the right eyepiece this telescope can show celes-tial objects perhaps 41000 times brighter than can be seen by the average 60-year-old eye As a result many of us pres-ent that Sunday evening myself included saw various objects more clearly and beautifully than ever be-fore ndash a wondrous thing

F i r s t L i g h tc o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 5

Making this custom tele-scope a reality was an often tortu-ous process with delays and set-backs The first attempt at a main mirror failed and so a second disk ndash from a fused-quartz blank 2 58 inches thick with a finished weight of 215 pounds ndash had to be made Obviously it was a big success It was also gratifying to note the impressive mechanical rigidity in the telescopersquos structure which was designed and built by Mike Zammit of StarStructure Telescopes in Florida who was with us for First Light James built the facility very large to facilitate a comfortable experience for future visitors al-though he emphasizes that he wonrsquot be able to host public events until the coronavirus situation is re-solved

Editors Note John W Briggs is a member of TAAS and of the Magda-lena Astronomical Society (MAS) and is the curator of the Magdalena Astronomical Lyceum an outstand-ing collection of historical telescopes and other astronomical instruments He invites TAAS members to sub-scribe to the new MAS email group mas-astrogroupsio

Page 8

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

In the Heart of the Rose an up close and personal look into the heart of the Rosette Nebula (aka Caldwell 49) The star of this image is the open cluster NGC 2244 discovered by John Flamsteed in 1690 () and later reported by Wil-liam Hershel Apparently neither saw the nebula The cluster consists of hot young stars formed from this giant nebula (stellar rebirth) about 5000 light-years from Earth Turn left at Orion to find it You will be able to see the bright star cluster in the center with binoculars Even with a moderate-sized telescope the nebula will not appear red in color Long integrations with a camera and small telescope reveal the beauty of the nebularsquos core

These bright young stars (typically 5 times hot-ter than our Sun) flood the nebula with ultraviolet light that excites gases causing emissions cap-tured by the camera The thinned area in the cen-ter of the nebula is thought to be caused by stellar winds from that group of stars The stellar winds exert pressure on the nebular cloud compress it and initiate gravitational collapse and stellar for-mation Astronomers estimate this process has been ongoing for about 4 million years The bright red regions are emissions from ionized hydrogen

the most abundant element in the nebula The blu-ish regions are from oxygen atoms that have lost two electrons ldquodoubly ionizedrdquo by the powerful ultra-violet

I collected just over 3 hours (46 X 4 min) of sub-ex-posures to make this image from FOAH Observa-tory (thank you John Briggs) north of Magdalena on February 17 using a Takahashi Epsilon 180 ED and Nikon D850 camera no filters The sub-expo-sures were calibrated registered photometrically color calibrated and integrated in PixInsight with final adjustments and cropping in Lightroom No noise reduction was performed

The quality of the image speaks mostly to the dark light-pollution-free sky at FOAH If you can view zoomed in on a large monitor If yoursquore won-dering about the color in the diffraction spikes from the Newtonian secondary supports I think itrsquos because the peaks of the side lobes of the dif-fraction pattern occur at different radial distances for different colors the period of red being the longest Makes for an interesting art form mdashBobFugate

Page 9

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

The Black Eye Galaxy M64 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 17 million light-years away in the direction of constellation Coma Berenices at an angle of 112ordm to our line of sight It is approximately 54000 light-years in diameter or about half the span of the Milky Way

M64rsquos interstellar media consist of two counter-rotating disks of gas This is thought to have been caused when two galaxies rotating in opposite directions collided and merged in the distant pastThis image was captured on the nights of April 14-16 at GNTO using a C 11 Edge at f7 an ASI 1600 mm camera and a Losmandy G11 mount A total of 48 x 5rsquo subframes were made using L R G and Blue filters The resulting subframes were pro-cessed and stacked in PixInsight mdashVanceLey

Page 10

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

Proud To Be a Member of TAAS Get a Cap

For many years we have had TAAS hats and other apparel made at Black Duck Embroidery amp Screen Printing (httpblackduckonlinecom) here in Albu-querque Recently they gave us an excellent price on two types of caps due to our frequent orders We can get the TAAS ball cap andor the woven watch cap both in midnight blue with the TAAS logo for only $10 and you can order one (or both) via our dedi-cated publicist Lynne Olson at no additional charge During this stay-at-home social-distancing time if you want to keep TAAS on your mindmdashand on your headmdashnotify Lynne at prtaasorg Shersquoll let you know when the order comes in and payment will be arranged

Page 8

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

In the Heart of the Rose an up close and personal look into the heart of the Rosette Nebula (aka Caldwell 49) The star of this image is the open cluster NGC 2244 discovered by John Flamsteed in 1690 () and later reported by Wil-liam Hershel Apparently neither saw the nebula The cluster consists of hot young stars formed from this giant nebula (stellar rebirth) about 5000 light-years from Earth Turn left at Orion to find it You will be able to see the bright star cluster in the center with binoculars Even with a moderate-sized telescope the nebula will not appear red in color Long integrations with a camera and small telescope reveal the beauty of the nebularsquos core

These bright young stars (typically 5 times hot-ter than our Sun) flood the nebula with ultraviolet light that excites gases causing emissions cap-tured by the camera The thinned area in the cen-ter of the nebula is thought to be caused by stellar winds from that group of stars The stellar winds exert pressure on the nebular cloud compress it and initiate gravitational collapse and stellar for-mation Astronomers estimate this process has been ongoing for about 4 million years The bright red regions are emissions from ionized hydrogen

the most abundant element in the nebula The blu-ish regions are from oxygen atoms that have lost two electrons ldquodoubly ionizedrdquo by the powerful ultra-violet

I collected just over 3 hours (46 X 4 min) of sub-ex-posures to make this image from FOAH Observa-tory (thank you John Briggs) north of Magdalena on February 17 using a Takahashi Epsilon 180 ED and Nikon D850 camera no filters The sub-expo-sures were calibrated registered photometrically color calibrated and integrated in PixInsight with final adjustments and cropping in Lightroom No noise reduction was performed

The quality of the image speaks mostly to the dark light-pollution-free sky at FOAH If you can view zoomed in on a large monitor If yoursquore won-dering about the color in the diffraction spikes from the Newtonian secondary supports I think itrsquos because the peaks of the side lobes of the dif-fraction pattern occur at different radial distances for different colors the period of red being the longest Makes for an interesting art form mdashBobFugate

Page 9

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

The Black Eye Galaxy M64 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 17 million light-years away in the direction of constellation Coma Berenices at an angle of 112ordm to our line of sight It is approximately 54000 light-years in diameter or about half the span of the Milky Way

M64rsquos interstellar media consist of two counter-rotating disks of gas This is thought to have been caused when two galaxies rotating in opposite directions collided and merged in the distant pastThis image was captured on the nights of April 14-16 at GNTO using a C 11 Edge at f7 an ASI 1600 mm camera and a Losmandy G11 mount A total of 48 x 5rsquo subframes were made using L R G and Blue filters The resulting subframes were pro-cessed and stacked in PixInsight mdashVanceLey

Page 10

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

Proud To Be a Member of TAAS Get a Cap

For many years we have had TAAS hats and other apparel made at Black Duck Embroidery amp Screen Printing (httpblackduckonlinecom) here in Albu-querque Recently they gave us an excellent price on two types of caps due to our frequent orders We can get the TAAS ball cap andor the woven watch cap both in midnight blue with the TAAS logo for only $10 and you can order one (or both) via our dedi-cated publicist Lynne Olson at no additional charge During this stay-at-home social-distancing time if you want to keep TAAS on your mindmdashand on your headmdashnotify Lynne at prtaasorg Shersquoll let you know when the order comes in and payment will be arranged

Page 9

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

The Black Eye Galaxy M64 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 17 million light-years away in the direction of constellation Coma Berenices at an angle of 112ordm to our line of sight It is approximately 54000 light-years in diameter or about half the span of the Milky Way

M64rsquos interstellar media consist of two counter-rotating disks of gas This is thought to have been caused when two galaxies rotating in opposite directions collided and merged in the distant pastThis image was captured on the nights of April 14-16 at GNTO using a C 11 Edge at f7 an ASI 1600 mm camera and a Losmandy G11 mount A total of 48 x 5rsquo subframes were made using L R G and Blue filters The resulting subframes were pro-cessed and stacked in PixInsight mdashVanceLey

Page 10

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

Proud To Be a Member of TAAS Get a Cap

For many years we have had TAAS hats and other apparel made at Black Duck Embroidery amp Screen Printing (httpblackduckonlinecom) here in Albu-querque Recently they gave us an excellent price on two types of caps due to our frequent orders We can get the TAAS ball cap andor the woven watch cap both in midnight blue with the TAAS logo for only $10 and you can order one (or both) via our dedi-cated publicist Lynne Olson at no additional charge During this stay-at-home social-distancing time if you want to keep TAAS on your mindmdashand on your headmdashnotify Lynne at prtaasorg Shersquoll let you know when the order comes in and payment will be arranged

Page 10

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

Proud To Be a Member of TAAS Get a Cap

For many years we have had TAAS hats and other apparel made at Black Duck Embroidery amp Screen Printing (httpblackduckonlinecom) here in Albu-querque Recently they gave us an excellent price on two types of caps due to our frequent orders We can get the TAAS ball cap andor the woven watch cap both in midnight blue with the TAAS logo for only $10 and you can order one (or both) via our dedi-cated publicist Lynne Olson at no additional charge During this stay-at-home social-distancing time if you want to keep TAAS on your mindmdashand on your headmdashnotify Lynne at prtaasorg Shersquoll let you know when the order comes in and payment will be arranged

Page 11

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

M e m b e r s h i p S e r v i c e s

forbullMembership InquiriesbullEvents InformationbullVolunteer Opportunities

Contact Bob Anderson at membershipTAASorg

forbullMembership DuesbullAddresse-mail changes

Contact Doug LeGrand at treasurerTAASorg

TAASPO Box 50581

Albuquerque NM 87181

Courtesy Pete Eschman

E x p l a n a t i o n o f D u e s a n d M e m b e r s h i p R e n e w a l D a t e

new memberships are registered immediately if you pay online If you pay by check your membership is registered when your check is re-ceived by the treasurer

Renewal notices will be sent out via e-mail beginning 60 days before your membership expires If your membership is renewed before it expires or with in 90 days after it ex-pires your new expiration date will be advanced one year from the previous expiration date and your membership will be continuous

If dues payment is received more than 90 days after the expiration date you will be reinstated as a mem-ber with an expiration date set as one year from the receipt of payment

D o n a t i o n s t o T A A S

The Albuquerque Astronomical Society is a 501(c)(3) organization Donations are deduct-ible as charitable contributions on the donorrsquos federal income tax return

Jeremy Becker

Debbie Conger

Jim Degnan

Bryan ldquoLancerdquo Hurt

Marcella C Jones

Carl Larson

Jerry Love

Michael Molitor

T A A S R e p o r t s amp N o t i c e s

E d i t o r rsquo s N o t e The deadline for the next issue of The Sidereal Times is Monday July 20 The newsletter editorsrsquo e-mail address is editorTAASorg

W e l c o m e t o N e wo r R e t u r n i n g

T A A S M e m b e r s

August BervigMaxfield BervigSamuel Bervig

Glynn GermanyJared GieseBryan HurtChris Long

David MartinJoanne MartinJanet Meyers

Robert MeyersTarik Vranka

L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o n L o c a t i o nbull Chaco Canyonbull

6185rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 36˚ 01rsquo 50rdquoN 107˚ 54rsquo 36rdquoW

3603˚ -10791˚ 36˚ 183rsquo -107˚ 5460rsquo

bull Oak Flatbull 7680rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 34˚ 59rsquo 48rdquoN 106˚ 19rsquo 17rdquoW

3499˚ -10632˚ 34˚ 5980rsquo -106˚ 1928rsquo

bull UNM Campus Observatorybull 5180rsquo elevation Latitude Longitude 35˚ 5rsquo 29rdquoN 106˚ 37rsquo 17rdquoW

3509˚ -10662˚ 35˚ 548rsquo -106˚ 3729rsquo

For security reasons GNTO location is available by request only so please contact

Jim Fordice GNTO Director for GNTO information e-mail GNTOTAASorg

M o n t h l y M e m b e r s h i p R e p o r tJ u n e 2 0 2 0

Membership Current Past Change Month Month

Regular 231 236 -5Family 130 139 -9Educator 15 16 -1Student 11 10 1Military 2 1 1Honorary 5 5 0Total Members 394 407 -13

Page 12

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

Astronomical League Coordinator Becky Ramotowski 505-286-8334 AL_coordinatorTAASorg ATM Coordinator Ray Collins 505-344-9686 atmTAASorg Chaco Events Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Education Outreach Mark Goodman 505-328-6157 education_coordTAASorg Explora Adult Night Coordinator Bob Hufnagel 505-890-8122 rhufnagel2comcastnet Fabulous Fifty Coordinator Phil Fleming 505-870-5604 fab50TAASorg GNTO Director Jim Fordice 505-803-3640 gntoTAASorg Membership Chair Bob Anderson 505-275-1916 membershipTAASorg Nametag Coordinator Billie Sue Patrick 575-937-1659 nametagTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Content Bruce Meyer 917-449-0700 editorTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Design Gary Cooper 505-227-3974 editorTAASorg Public Events Coordinator Steve Snider 505-249-4066 events_coordinatorTAASorg Publicity Coordinator Lynne Olson 505-856-2537 prTAASorg Scout Coordinator Chaz Jetty 505-350-7949 scout_coordinatorTAASorg Telescope Loan Coordinator Rick Vergas 505-620-2832 telescope_loansTAASorg UNM Observatory Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 UNM_coordTAASorg Webmaster John Purnell 209-355-5166 webmasterTAASorg

jim Fordice PresidentpresidentTAASorg505-803-3640

steve snider Vice PresidentvpTAASorg505-249-4066

doug Legrand TreasurertreasurerTAASorg505-559-0252

carL Larson Secretary secretaryTAASorg408-623-4717

robert anderson DirectorMembership CoordinatormembershipTAASorg505-275-1916

jim Fordice DirectorGNTO Director gntoTAASorg505-803-3640

mark goodman DirectorEducation Outreach Directoreducation_coordTAASorg505-328-6157

bob havLen Directorrhavlenearthlinknet505-856-3306

jim roucis DirectorJim Rouciscom719-651-9663

boris venet DirectorChaco Events Coordinator UNM Observatory Coordinator venetbsprintmailcom505-507-7838

rick vergas DirectorTelescope Loan Coordinatortelescope_loansTAASorg505-620-2832

2 0 2 0 T A A S B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s S t a f f

TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoEditorrsquos Pick 2013 Best of the Cityrdquo award from AlbuquerqueMagazine

BEST PLACE TO STARGAZECELESTIAL EDITION

TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoOUT-Of-THIS-WORLDrdquo AWARD 2011

from AstronomyMagazine for Outstanding Public Programming

MEMBERSHIP

You can join TAAS or renew your membership online Just go to wwwtaasorg and select ldquoJoin Usrdquo or ldquoRenew Your Membershiprdquo from the main menu on the left side Annual dues are $30 for a regular membership $15 for educators and active military and $5 for students Only regular members are eligible to vote in society matters Our new member information packet can be viewed or downloaded from the same location on the website You can pay your dues on line through PayPal by Visa MasterCard or American Express To pay by check mail your check to TAAS PO Box 50581 Albuquerque NM 87181-0581 or give it to the treasurer at one of our meetings

MAGAZINES

TAAS no longer offers magazine subscriptions

ARTICLESADVERTISEMENTS

Articles personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and advertise-ments for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadline shown on the Society calen-dar (generally the Friday near the new Moon) Rates for commercial ads (per issue) are $120 per page $60 per half page $30 per quarter page $7 for business card size The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include andor edit any article or advertisement E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word or compatible word processor format ASCII and RTF are acceptable One space between paragraphs is pre-ferred One column is approximately 350 words Contact the Newsletter Editor at editorTAASorg for more in-formation

Note that the Sidereal Times is no longer mailed It is posted on the TAAS website wwwTAASorg

Send submissions or correspondence to editorTAASorg

The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

PO Box 50581Albuquerque NM 87181-0581

taas ONLINE

TAAS website httpwwwTAASorg

The TAAS website includes

bull Programs bull taas 200 bull TAAS Fabulous Fiftybull Educational Outreach School Star

Parties Solar Astronomy Outreachbull Equipment Trader bull Telescope Loaner Programbull Telescope Making and Maintenance And more

bull Online SiderealTimesbull Calendar of TAAS Eventsbull Membersrsquo Guidebull Links to Astronomy Resources and

Membersrsquo Blogs

E-mail TAASTAASorg

Membersrsquo Google GroupTAAS_talkgooglegroupscom

Page 12

The Sidereal Times July 2020

The Official Newsletter of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

Astronomical League Coordinator Becky Ramotowski 505-286-8334 AL_coordinatorTAASorg ATM Coordinator Ray Collins 505-344-9686 atmTAASorg Chaco Events Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 venetbsprintmailcom Education Outreach Mark Goodman 505-328-6157 education_coordTAASorg Explora Adult Night Coordinator Bob Hufnagel 505-890-8122 rhufnagel2comcastnet Fabulous Fifty Coordinator Phil Fleming 505-870-5604 fab50TAASorg GNTO Director Jim Fordice 505-803-3640 gntoTAASorg Membership Chair Bob Anderson 505-275-1916 membershipTAASorg Nametag Coordinator Billie Sue Patrick 575-937-1659 nametagTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Content Bruce Meyer 917-449-0700 editorTAASorg Newsletter Co-Editor Design Gary Cooper 505-227-3974 editorTAASorg Public Events Coordinator Steve Snider 505-249-4066 events_coordinatorTAASorg Publicity Coordinator Lynne Olson 505-856-2537 prTAASorg Scout Coordinator Chaz Jetty 505-350-7949 scout_coordinatorTAASorg Telescope Loan Coordinator Rick Vergas 505-620-2832 telescope_loansTAASorg UNM Observatory Coordinator Boris Venet 505-507-7838 UNM_coordTAASorg Webmaster John Purnell 209-355-5166 webmasterTAASorg

jim Fordice PresidentpresidentTAASorg505-803-3640

steve snider Vice PresidentvpTAASorg505-249-4066

doug Legrand TreasurertreasurerTAASorg505-559-0252

carL Larson Secretary secretaryTAASorg408-623-4717

robert anderson DirectorMembership CoordinatormembershipTAASorg505-275-1916

jim Fordice DirectorGNTO Director gntoTAASorg505-803-3640

mark goodman DirectorEducation Outreach Directoreducation_coordTAASorg505-328-6157

bob havLen Directorrhavlenearthlinknet505-856-3306

jim roucis DirectorJim Rouciscom719-651-9663

boris venet DirectorChaco Events Coordinator UNM Observatory Coordinator venetbsprintmailcom505-507-7838

rick vergas DirectorTelescope Loan Coordinatortelescope_loansTAASorg505-620-2832

2 0 2 0 T A A S B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s S t a f f

TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoEditorrsquos Pick 2013 Best of the Cityrdquo award from AlbuquerqueMagazine

BEST PLACE TO STARGAZECELESTIAL EDITION

TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoOUT-Of-THIS-WORLDrdquo AWARD 2011

from AstronomyMagazine for Outstanding Public Programming

MEMBERSHIP

You can join TAAS or renew your membership online Just go to wwwtaasorg and select ldquoJoin Usrdquo or ldquoRenew Your Membershiprdquo from the main menu on the left side Annual dues are $30 for a regular membership $15 for educators and active military and $5 for students Only regular members are eligible to vote in society matters Our new member information packet can be viewed or downloaded from the same location on the website You can pay your dues on line through PayPal by Visa MasterCard or American Express To pay by check mail your check to TAAS PO Box 50581 Albuquerque NM 87181-0581 or give it to the treasurer at one of our meetings

MAGAZINES

TAAS no longer offers magazine subscriptions

ARTICLESADVERTISEMENTS

Articles personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and advertise-ments for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadline shown on the Society calen-dar (generally the Friday near the new Moon) Rates for commercial ads (per issue) are $120 per page $60 per half page $30 per quarter page $7 for business card size The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include andor edit any article or advertisement E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word or compatible word processor format ASCII and RTF are acceptable One space between paragraphs is pre-ferred One column is approximately 350 words Contact the Newsletter Editor at editorTAASorg for more in-formation

Note that the Sidereal Times is no longer mailed It is posted on the TAAS website wwwTAASorg

Send submissions or correspondence to editorTAASorg

The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

PO Box 50581Albuquerque NM 87181-0581

taas ONLINE

TAAS website httpwwwTAASorg

The TAAS website includes

bull Programs bull taas 200 bull TAAS Fabulous Fiftybull Educational Outreach School Star

Parties Solar Astronomy Outreachbull Equipment Trader bull Telescope Loaner Programbull Telescope Making and Maintenance And more

bull Online SiderealTimesbull Calendar of TAAS Eventsbull Membersrsquo Guidebull Links to Astronomy Resources and

Membersrsquo Blogs

E-mail TAASTAASorg

Membersrsquo Google GroupTAAS_talkgooglegroupscom

TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoEditorrsquos Pick 2013 Best of the Cityrdquo award from AlbuquerqueMagazine

BEST PLACE TO STARGAZECELESTIAL EDITION

TAAS was honored to receive an ldquoOUT-Of-THIS-WORLDrdquo AWARD 2011

from AstronomyMagazine for Outstanding Public Programming

MEMBERSHIP

You can join TAAS or renew your membership online Just go to wwwtaasorg and select ldquoJoin Usrdquo or ldquoRenew Your Membershiprdquo from the main menu on the left side Annual dues are $30 for a regular membership $15 for educators and active military and $5 for students Only regular members are eligible to vote in society matters Our new member information packet can be viewed or downloaded from the same location on the website You can pay your dues on line through PayPal by Visa MasterCard or American Express To pay by check mail your check to TAAS PO Box 50581 Albuquerque NM 87181-0581 or give it to the treasurer at one of our meetings

MAGAZINES

TAAS no longer offers magazine subscriptions

ARTICLESADVERTISEMENTS

Articles personal astronomical clas-sified advertisements and advertise-ments for businesses related to as-tronomy must be submitted by the deadline shown on the Society calen-dar (generally the Friday near the new Moon) Rates for commercial ads (per issue) are $120 per page $60 per half page $30 per quarter page $7 for business card size The newsletter edi-tor reserves the right to include andor edit any article or advertisement E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word or compatible word processor format ASCII and RTF are acceptable One space between paragraphs is pre-ferred One column is approximately 350 words Contact the Newsletter Editor at editorTAASorg for more in-formation

Note that the Sidereal Times is no longer mailed It is posted on the TAAS website wwwTAASorg

Send submissions or correspondence to editorTAASorg

The Albuquerque Astronomical Society

PO Box 50581Albuquerque NM 87181-0581

taas ONLINE

TAAS website httpwwwTAASorg

The TAAS website includes

bull Programs bull taas 200 bull TAAS Fabulous Fiftybull Educational Outreach School Star

Parties Solar Astronomy Outreachbull Equipment Trader bull Telescope Loaner Programbull Telescope Making and Maintenance And more

bull Online SiderealTimesbull Calendar of TAAS Eventsbull Membersrsquo Guidebull Links to Astronomy Resources and

Membersrsquo Blogs

E-mail TAASTAASorg

Membersrsquo Google GroupTAAS_talkgooglegroupscom